Home	Summer Sailstice 6/20/26

Wow! What a great day on the water. Five Islander 36s gathered at the Bay Bridge for the Summer Sailstice Rally, and we even saw a 6th sailing through Racoon Strait. The wind gods were gentle on us, but played their own trick as this ws the first tiime in the Rally's 6 year history that we had to beat to windward to get around Angel Island. Not just "a long and a short," but up to 5 tacks against a northerly component, and a building flood tide pushing us east. As you can see in the pictures, there was light wind south of the Bay Bridge in the starting area, but on the course side, just north of the bridge it was whitecaps and 15 knots from due north as late as 10 minutes before the start. But 30 minutes into the Rally, whitecaps were gone and the fleet beat its way up and around angel Island.

The rest of the story unfolds in the text below, but here is the fleet information and the results.

The Fleet

	Score					Std = 135%			Raw		Skipper	Virtual		Correct.	Pics	Pics	Drone	Fun
Sail #	Y/N	Boat Name	Skipper		P-Allow	Jib	J-Allow	Tall?	Rating	Skipper	Adjust	Crew	Burgee	Rating	Others	You	Vid	Rating
438	Y	Kapai	Rick Egan	E	0	125	0	0	144			0	1	145	5	5	0	155
420	Y	Luna Sea	Dan Knox/Rob Blenderman	E	0	135	0	0	144	Non R	10	0	1	155	0	2	0	157
11543	Y	Vanishing Animal	Rick Van Mell	I	15	135	0	-6	153	Non R	10	0	1	164	5	5	0	174
38015	Y	Windcatcher	Dan Throop	I	10	135	0	0	154	Single	10		1	165	0	0	0	165
472	Y	Zenith	Anthony Tatlor	O	0	135	0	0	144			0	1	145	2	5	0	152

Corrected Rating Results

Scratch Rating:

144

Course A =

11.2

Course B =

11.5

Start:

12:0:0

Decimal Second =

=1/86400

Finish

Elapsed

Raw

Raw

Raw

Correct.

Correct.

Correct.

Fun

Fun

Fun

Sail #

Boat Name

Skipper

Time

Time

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

Rating

Allow.

Score

11543

Vanishing Animal

Rick Van Mell

14:18:35

2:18:35

153

0:1:41

2:16:54

164

0:3:44

2:14:51

174

0:5:36

2:12:59

38015

Windcatcher

Dan Throop

14:22:49

2:22:49

154

0:1:52

2:20:57

165

0:3:55

2:18:54

165

0:3:55

2:18:54

438

Kapai

Rick Egan

14:20:16

2:20:16

144

0:0:0

2:20:16

145

0:0:11

2:20:05

155

0:2:3

2:18:13

420

Luna Sea

Dan Knox/Rob Blenderman

14:22:36

2:22:36

155

0:2:3

2:20:33

155

0:2:3

2:20:33

157

0:2:26

2:20:10

472

Zenith

Anthony Tatlor

14:21:31

2:21:31

144

0:0:0

2:21:31

145

0:0:11

2:21:20

152

0:1:30

2:20:01

It is amazing, and a tribute to the rating adjustments for fixed props and tall rigs that Kit Wwiegman calculated years back, that the last 3 boats are within 1 minute and 15 seconds of each other. And,we had three boats with 10-second-per-mile adjustment for either single handing - Dan Throop, who wound up 2nd, or Non-Racing Crew at the helm - Karen on Luna Sea, and Michael on Vanishing Animal. Then throw in the additional Fun Score rating allowances from contributing pictures to the web page, and you see that Kapai moves up to 2nd ahead of WindCatcher by 41 seconds, and Zenith jumps to 4th, 9 seconds ahead of Luna Sea. Here's a link to the Sailing Instructions and how the various rating allowances worked: https://islander36.org/sailstice26/sailstice26details.html

Here's a link to how it all began in 2020, complete with some video clips: 2020 Summer Sailstice Rally.

Finally, Kapai, Zenith, Windcatcher and Luna Sea rafted up in McCovey Cove for a celebration. Vanishing Animal had a long sail back to Brisbane, and wished them well. It was yet another wonderful day for the islander 36 fleet. May we have many more, and more of you come out and join us!

The Log from Kapai

The Rick Van Mell Sailstice Rally 2026:
The Sailstice Rally weather was perfect this year with 12 to 15 kts out of the SW. A nice sunny day on the bay as 5 Islanders and two skilled canine crew on Zenith made their way to the western expanse of the Bay Bridge. Kapai's crew included Son Bryce and daughter in law Reanne who enjoyed sandwiches on our brief motor over to the start where we joined Vanishing Animal, Zenith and Wind Catcher near the start. Luna Sea radio'd that they were a little delayed, so RVM announced a 5-minute delay which turned out perfect.

Kapai started cleanly but late on port tack just behind Luna Sea and started concentrating on upwind work toward Pt. Blunt on Angel Island. We gradually overtook Luna Sea and the rest of the fleet but due to wind direction and the arrival of an inbound freighter we tacked toward Alcatraz hoping to make it around Pt. Knox and enter Raccoon strait. Unfortunately, the wind went light and we were headed so it took a few tacks to get into Raccoon.

By this time the fleet was closing on us and Vanishing Animal led the way favoring the left side of Raccoon as we stayed center. The rest of the fleet was about 500 yards behind. Rick Van Mell is like the prisoner in the Shaw Shank Redemption. He slowly chipped away at our lead taking the inside track on the back side of Angel and then found wind and current that seemed to evade us. By the time we reached Treasure Island he was way ahead and finished with aplomb.

We crossed the finish line second with Wind Catcher and the rest of the fleet hot on our heels. Rick and crew on Vanishing Animal headed for home while the rest of the fleet had a nice raft up in McCovey Cove and were universally delighted with the day. Big thanks to everyone who turned out and to RVM for conceiving of this rally and doing so much to make it a very fun annual event. Commodore Egan 6/21/2026

The Log from Vanishing Animal

First my greatest thanks and gratitude to the skippers and crew that showed up for our Sailstice Rally. Your showing up, and having a good time, makes all the effort so worthwhile.

I recruited my next door neighbor Michael Pierantozzi, who has taken some sailing lessons, for his second Sailstice Rally - this time putting him at the helm from the time we left the dock. He did a fine job despite my stream of advice of which way to go, and had a good time. He also was the reason I even attempted the Rally this year. As some of you know, I was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in January, had Whipple surgery in February to carve away some of the pancreas and rearrange the connection from my stomach to my intestines, and now I have started chemotherapy. While I feel pretty darn good considering, I am acutely aware of the loads of setting, trimming and furling sails on an I-36 when the wind gets north of 15 - 20 knots. I was counting on Michael to help if I couldn't do it.

At 84 years old, I have for the last few years sailed most days with jib only, given the Bay tendency to start out mild and usually blowing 15 - 20+ by midafternoon when getting back to Brisbane Marina. As we powered our way to the starting area in light wind, I said I was going to risk angering the wind gods by taking off the sail cover. Then sure enough we saw whitecaps and north wind about 10 minutes before the start. I suggested to Michael that, if this continued, we'd probably start under jib alone, and if it continued, we'd radio the fleet that we were calling it a day and head for home.

So we had a nice start with jib only and initially were holding our own as the wind was up around 15 knots. With a tall rig and 135% jib, that puts us right down on our sailing lines and do quite well. Boats with full sail are starting to have more drag from higher heeling angles, so it evens out. Since Michael was on the helm, I was doing all the jib trimming, and it took all the strength I had. Once the wind started to ease up, we, slowly at first, then quickly started to drop behind the fleet. As we closed on Angel Island's Point Blunt, my racing instincts took over and I climbed out of the cockpit, bent on the main halyard, took off the sail stops and hoisted the main.

Now on starboard tack we headed west, then southwest as the wind knocked us. But it was stronger and we were above 6 knots and making land on Angel Island. As noted above, Kapai had tacked west earlier because of a freighter, and WindCatcher and Zenith had also done so and headed toward Alcatraz. Luna Sea had held on closer to the Angel Island shore and found lighter wind. When we tacked back north onto port tack we were lifted as the wind backed and Luna Sea was knocked so we crossed her bow by several lengths. But we ran into the slows just off Pt. Knox and had to tack back west while Luna Sea didn't get the header and crossed our stern on a good heading. But, the winds shifted again and two more tacks and we had good air with Luna Sea tucked to leeward (Picture #39 - thanks Kapai.)

Kapai had rounded into Raccoon Strait and headed down the shortest course rhumbline. WE saw more pressure to the left side, and maybe stronger flood current as well and held high. We slowly pulled abeam of Kapai, but were more than 100 yards north. Kapai reached up to gain speed and pulled ahead a few lengths, but was now also just a few length to leeward. Without telegraphing our move, Michael gybed quickly and we were able to position ourselves now to windward and a few lengths ahead of Kapai. We were both far enough off the shore that we avoided the worst of the Angel Island wind shadow, and could see another boat a quarter mile ahead starting to get the wrap-around wind at Pt. Blunt. While still staying close to give Kapai a bit of a blanket, we edged higher to reach the new wind first. As veteran SF Bay skippers will tell you, the difference of a boat length or two can make all the difference in getting the wind or not. We got it first and accelerated away from Kapai. Michael was all smiles and kept grinning all way to that crazy finish-line-on-the-water.

It was now after 1400 and we had about 10 miles ahead to get back to Brisbane - and the likelyhood that the wind would increase. Indeed, by 1400 the wind at SFO was gusting 25 - 30 and stayed that way until 1800. SFO is a good proxy for the winds in the 3 mile leg between Hunters Point and the Brisbane channel. So we reluctantly decided not to join the raft in McCovey Cove and headed for home, arriving about 1600. The wind did increase and we furled the jib in the lee of the buildings at Hunter Point and powered the last 4 miles home where it was 18 - 20 in the channel.

So again, thanks to everyone who came out to enjoy a beautiful day on the Bay. And thanks for the pictures from all.

Morning at Brisbane ...	sunscreen time.	Michael's driving	Calm start	Staring area Block - Left Tower
Pure San Francisco LGBQ+ Art	Looking south San Mateo Br.	Chase Center	SF Skyline	Zenith
Big span	Kapai ...	Commodore Egan ...	Bryce up forward ...	Reanne at helm ...
enjoying lunch.	WindCatcher	VA and Zenith	Zenith, Kapai WC to leeward	Old bird's nest!
WindCatcher ...	and Dan.	Luna Sea and ...	Karen & Rob.	Kapai & WindCatcher
Vanishng Animal	Alcatraz and Whitecaps ...	pelican, waves ...	pelican, waves ...and Starting Line.	Luna Sea racing ...
WindCatcher	Kapai	Zenith - just starting.	VA, LS & WC	VA close hauled - no main
LS & Kapai at Telegraph Hill	WC passes Treasure I.	Kapai - Luna Sea Angel Island	VA main up leads LS at Pt. Knox	What? at Pt. Stuart Angel Island
Raccoon Strait an ...	I-36 Seaing Stars.	Kapai from VA ...	VA from Kapai ...	LS from Kapai.
Richmond shore ...	VA gybed inside Kapai	Michael's pumped!	Reaching for the ...	finish line.
After finish LS ...	WindCatcher ...	McCovey Cove ...	raft up and ...	Celebration! Kapai,Zenith, WC, Luna Sea.

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